Look Again
by bobonbon
Summary: When a new kid transfers in, Sanji acquires a horrible impression of him, they endlessly fight until one day he decides to look again into Zoro's personality. Short story full of fluff, a little angst, and humor


Sanji favored routines over the unexpected; he was someone who would rather know the upcoming circumstances other than being flabbergasted by the unforeseen. All his life, he played alongside with his familiar habits and if something happened to disturb the peace, he would eliminate it out of his way as soon as possible.

But that was until a strange boy transferred into his class, who rippled through Sanji's long lasted serenity.

. . .

The boys in the class snickered towards the new kid, who currently stood in front of the classroom with an indifferent expression. The reason why everyone laughed towards Zoro was because he had green hair and three hanging golden earrings, which was very bizarre for anyone their age.

However, to Sanji's slight distaste, some girls squealed in delight at the sight of this new kid contrasting the boys' responses. The blonde heard few words used by the females around him such as "badass," "cool," and "muscular."

Sanji stared at the green haired kid and realized that he was in fact quite muscular. Zoro appeared relatively tough which triggered the blonde to crave for a fight. However, Sanji wasn't about to start brawling in middle of the classroom.

Instead, he decided to befriend this 'Zoro' since he was the social type after all. And he did have a reputation to maintain.

When the teacher told Zoro to take a seat next to Sanji, the blonde tried his best to keep his composure and affability. "Hey," Sanji greeted Zoro with a welcoming and a friendly voice. But instead of responding, the other boy ignored the greeting as he immediately buried his head between his arms to take a nap.

Even though the gesture was incredibly rude, Sanji wasn't offended, _yet_. He tried to convince himself that Zoro didn't hear nor see Sanji's motions.

So the blonde tried once more after class. "Hey wait up!" Sanji called after the green haired boy, thinking Zoro was awfully quick for someone who appeared bulky.

Unlike the previous incident, Zoro actually stopped this time and Sanji was glad to know that he wasn't ignored. The blonde tapped the other boy's shoulder with a grin. But the felicity shattered when Zoro turned to glare at Sanji. "Leave me alone curly." He grumpily snapped.

That left Sanji befuddled. Curly? Where the hell did that name come from?

Then he reached for his eyebrows which was obviously the only curly thing he could think of and from that reaction, Zoro's mouth curved into a wicked smirk. "You curled your eyebrows far too long curly-brow."

The blonde's face instantaneously flushed in anger as his lips pulled back threateningly. He loudly growled out, "Bastard, I'm going to kick your ass!" And the kids around them began to cheer as they started to punch and kick another.

. . .

There was not a single day where they didn't argue or brawl against one another. Actually most of the times, neither of them had a single clue as to why they even fought so many times.

For some odd reasons, even the smallest things could light up a flare of anger. And for both members, just releasing that steam felt absolutely normal.

Thanks to the green haired boy, Sanji received detentions countless times and lost his title as being the teacher's pet. Worst of all, he even scared some ladies away from him.

In all honesty, it wasn't entirely Zoro's fault. Actually, half the times, it was Sanji creating a hassle, making up excuses to fight against this mossy boy. No matter how much he put his thoughts into it, he couldn't come up with why he incessantly caused problems.

"Hey Curly, let me get that pen." Zoro asked, intruding on the blonde's thoughts and before Sanji could answer, the other boy reached for the pen impatiently.

Sanji glared at the other boy for being so damn aggravating, so he slapped the hands away. "Marimo, don't touch my stuff, you brute." He growled, sounding atrociously ghastly in his own ears.

The green haired boy grimaced a bit from the slap, "Why the hell not, you weren't using it." He recoiled as he glowered maliciously towards the blonde and the frowns began to set place on his expression as always.

"I just don't want you to." Sanji responded not so cleverly, he couldn't think of anything else to say, but to make up for that dull comment, Sanji kicked the other boy's leg violently.

Zoro groaned for a second before creating a fist to punch the blonde in the arm. "You shitty eyebrows, kicking me out of nowhere, I didn't even do anything" He complained as he reached for the tender spot on his leg.

Sanji really didn't want to cause trouble yet again since he had a sufficient amount of detentions already but it felt as if the other boy was begging for it. The blonde swung his leg to kick Zoro's for the second time as he spat, "Shitty marimo."

"Dartboard bastard," The green haired boy countered as he persistently aimed his fists towards Sanji. And as usual, the punches were unbelievably powerful but the blonde tried his absolute best to neither flinch nor give any types of signs that could give a single satisfaction to Zoro.

They were so busy fighting among themselves that they didn't even notice their teacher hovering over them, appearing dreadfully dangerous and fearsome at the same time. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" She bellowed, creating the two to shudder for a moment.

She grabbed Sanji and Zoro by their shirts and dragged them outside the classroom.

The intimidating woman dropped the two teenagers outside of the classroom, in middle of the hallway where they wouldn't be able to cause a further disturbance. Then she headed inside to carry on with her lesson, not even bothering to scold the two.

"Marimo, this is entirely your fault." Sanji muttered as he crouched and leaned against the wall. He appallingly waited for his punishment which he still wasn't used to receiving. Inside, he was still this obedient child who would rather have a serene life than a rowdy one.

The other boy began to argue with a pout, "Things wouldn't have ended up like this if you just gave me the pen."

Sanji couldn't believe this, even though they were all by themselves, deeply in trouble _because_ of a fight, they were still fighting, _un__-freaking-__believable._ "Why do you bother me mosshead, I mean, why can't you just leave me alone?" He asked irrelatively.

Sanji just wanted the present to be identical to the past. But ever since the first day with Zoro, his life had never been the same, not a single peaceful moment existed with this green haired boy by his side.

Zoro did not respond, instead, his face suddenly began to redden. A dark crimson streak emerged across his already tanned skin. And without a second thought, Sanji blurted out, "Are you blushing?"

The other boy hid his expression behind his hands as he mumbled, "No." His stance was wide and defensive as if he was about to have a boxing tournament.

Even if he denied it, the blonde was pretty sure that was a blush. But then why would Zoro blush? There was no reason for Zoro to blush. People blushed when they become embarrassed and Sanji didn't ask anything that could've caused embarrassment. "Are you embarrassed mosshead?"Sanji continued to tease as payback for getting him into this mess.

Zoro once more answered with the same reply, "No." His tone was stiff and emotionless.

Even though it was clear that the other boy didn't want to talk about it, Sanji could not cease his mocks. "But you're blushing! That means you're embarrassed!"

"Shut up shitty eyebrows." Zoro released his hand from his face as he grabbed the blonde's necktie, placing his face in front of Sanji's. Their breaths mingled and the tips of their noses scarcely touched.

Sanji grabbed the green haired boy's shirt by the neck as well to get even, as a low rumble built inside his throat. "Marimo," he choked out. At the name calling, Zoro threw the blonde to the ground harshly causing pain to shoot up within Sanji's spine. The blonde boy glared at the green haired boy from the ground as he shouted, "Bastard, that fucking hurt!"

Zoro appeared awfully proud of himself as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It's your fault blondie." He mocked as he stood over Sanji.

To get even with Zoro, the blonde stretched his leg out to trip the other boy and grinned when Zoro's brute body fell to the floor ungracefully.

Unexpectedly, the green haired boy stood silently as he brushed the dirt off his black pants. His expression was shadowed by him staring at the ground instead of gazing towards Sanji. "Bastard," he noiselessly mumbled.

"What marimo? Did that hurt?" The blonde derided the other boy.

Zoro raised his head to meet the blonde's mocking appearance and to Sanji's surprise, the green haired boy wasn't frowning nor did he show any signs of being wounded. In substitute, his expression was a mock itself, he held a malicious grin that sent shivers down Sanji's back. "Your kicks can't hurt me because you're fucking weak, shitty blonde."

Sanji really should've been used to all these mocks and sneers. However, he just couldn't help but to let it get the best of him. His face began to flush in mortification and in complete blind rage; the blonde kicked the other boy in the stomach.

"_Oof"_

The blonde ignored the strings of curses creatively created by the other boy as he ran in the direction of the library. But instead of walking inside the room filled with dusty books, he stopped in middle of the hallway to calm his anger down.

_Calm down _he repeatedly told himself. He was used to Zoro's insults and his rudeness in general. _Hell, _Sanji was much worse. The green haired boy wasn't as imaginativewith these verbal abuses, nowhere close to the blonde's own.

But it hurt to hear Zoro calling him _weak._ Sanji always believed that they were both equals, that they were rivals whom respected another for their strengths. But hearing such words from the green haired boy, it absolutely crushed the blonde.

"Oi Sanji" A familiar voice called out behind Sanji.

When the blonde turned around, he met a long nosed African American boy whom had a very tiny afro growing on his head. "Hey Usopp," he greeted but immediately felt sorry for sounding so dismal.

Usopp raised one of his eyebrows in confusion, "Something wrong?" He asked with concern. The blonde shrugged in response since he didn't really feel like talking. The long nosed boy noticeably got the hint then swiftly changed the subject, "I never thought you would be the type to skip classes."

"I'm not skipping, my teacher kicked me out of the class," he responded with a pout, still aggravated towards Zoro over everything.

"Oh, another fight with Zoro" Usopp identified the problem straightway from the blonde's response. "So what happened this time?" He asked in inquisitiveness.

Before giving Sanji a chance to answer, a loud bell rang, an indication for school being over. "Sorry Sanji, talk to me after school, I have to get my stuff," Usopp shouted as he ran to his classroom.

"Wait!" The blonde yelled back, he wanted to say that he probably wouldn't be meeting Usopp afterwards since Sanji would very likely be in detention, but the long nosed boy was long gone.

Sanji didn't follow after Usopp since he didn't believe what he had to say was important enough. So instead, he headed towards his own classroom to face to wrath of his fierce teacher. "Oh ho, look who decided to show up." The orange haired woman sarcastically remarked when the blonde walked inside the classroom.

He gulped at the fearsome woman, "I-I'm sorry Ms. Nami," Sanji apologize guiltily while looking up at her and he just couldn't help but to notice how huge her breasts were. By this erotic thought, he lightly grinned.

"I can't believe you think this is funny." Nami crossed her arms right under her breasts. "You and Zoro will have detentions again." She told him with a firm voice that basically shouted out 'no excuses.' The blonde nodded furiously since he didn't want to anger this woman any further. "Zoro's at Mrs. Nico's classroom right now, while you're waiting for him, please stack up the chairs."

The blonde nodded once more but with less enthusiasm. The tiny clicks made by Nami's red heels led right outside the classroom as she headed towards the teacher's lounge. She usually took a ten minute break right after school has ended.

Sanji began to stack the chairs up as he thought about the green haired boy once more. What should he say when Zoro comes into the room?

Usually, after a fight, they acted as if nothing happened the next day but never before did the blonde run after an insult like a pansy. He truly regretted running away earlier, it really showed his weak side to Zoro and that was the last thing he wanted.

As Sanji stacked up the last chair, he at last felt how empty and void this classroom really was. It was quite strange to be alone in a room where it's usually compacted with students and teachers.

The blonde fidgeted with his fingers since he no longer had a task to fulfill but he discontinued straightaway when he heard the classroom door open. His first thought was of course the green haired boy but as an alternative, it was surprisingly Usopp.

"Hey Sanji, didn't know where you went so I thought I should check here," the African American boy told him as he scratched his head. His other hand held a slingshot, something he always carried since he was the type to be bullied easily.

The blonde felt a strange relief for having company once more; he really did feel uncomfortable being inside an empty classroom. "Yo Usopp, sorry man, I have detention today," Sanji responded.

"Thought so," Usopp said as he practiced with his slingshot, aiming towards the chalkboard. "I just made a new weapon yesterday," he told the blonde excitedly.

Since Sanji was used to the long nosed boy's experiments, he replied with, "Fire away."

Usopp certainly did fire and as soon as he did, the whole chalkboard immediately became covered with chalk dusts. "I call it 'chalk fume,'" he announced proudly to the blonde. "The effects of this weapon are continuous sneezes as well as shaded vision."

"Fuel to the already existing anger I say," Sanji answered, sounding barely audible.

Loud footsteps were heard outside the classroom and from the approaching sounds; Usopp's face abruptly grew pale. "Crap, if Ms. Nami finds me here, I'll get one of her knuckle sandwiches, bye Sanji," he said his farewells as he speedily ran out of the room quicker than a cheetah.

The blonde grinned at his silly friend's departure but brought it to a halt when he noticed the person who walked inside the room. "Marimo," he whispered far too loud.

Zoro's expression was full of surprise from seeing the blonde as he breathed out, "Curly brow."

The air around them suddenly felt painful to breathe in. The blonde' stomach did a mini flip as he racked his head for the next words to say, "Shitty moss, I have this detention thanks to you."

He wanted to smack his head against the chalkboard repeatedly for being discourteous once more but he couldn't help it, it felt so natural to insult Zoro.

Surprisingly, the green haired boy's appearance began to modify into smile instead of his usual grumpy expression. "Shitty cook," he insulted but it surprisingly sounded relieved.

"Oh, you boys are here." Nami's voice gleefully interrupted the two. Sanji, out of the blue, felt this tiniest irritation towards her for disrupting them.

"Witch," Zoro grumbled in the direction of the orange haired woman which caused her to conk her fist on top of his green head. He groaned in response and instead of upsetting her for the second time, he glared intensely at her.

Then all of a sudden, she gasped in shock as she stared behind the blonde's head, "Who did this?"

The blonde knew what she was talking about even before turning around to check her vision. It was the mess Usopp made before he ran off, causing Sanji to appear to be the culprit instead, _that sneaky bastard._ "I can explain," he calmly told his teacher, voicing the opposite of his inner turmoil, which was panic.

Nami separated her next words carefully, "Sanji did you do this?"

The blonde swallowed and was about to take the blame for his long nosed friend, since he did encourage him after all, when Zoro barged in to the discussion, "Witch, do you really think this suck up did all of this, just to piss you off?" His tone held extreme sarcasm as he tried to reason with the orange haired woman.

Nami reasonably considered this for a moment before giving Zoro two hits on the head yet again causing Sanji to flinch a bit. "One for calling me a witch and the other for creating this mess, now clean this up while I'm gone since I have a meeting to attend to. This room better be spotless by the time I come back." She demanded in a strict tone as she walked away another time.

The green haired boy followed right after the teacher, heading outside of the classroom, causing Sanji to feel alarm for a moment. "Oi, where the hell do you think you're going?" The blonde shouted after the other boy, standing uneasily without knowing what to do next.

"What the hell do you think?" He grumbled before slamming the classroom door, awfully in a bad mood, possibly from the triple abuses made by their orange haired teacher.

Sanji felt befuddled because he had no idea what Zoro was talking about. Instead of distressing over where the other boy went, he sat at his assigned seat as he took out a journal.

Well, technically it wasn't his journal; it was his life recorder, instead of writing about his feelings, he wrote simple procedures, such as how his day went. But most of the content consisted of recipes and ingredients, but it couldn't hurt to have daily memories as well.

However, recently, the journal had been only documenting his relations with Zoro. Most of the content was filled with the bad traits of the green haired boy and regrets over Sanji's own words. But today he felt as if he should create a new topic.

_Good traits of Zoro: I can easily mess around with him, he smells really good (like pinecones), and he backs you up when you really need him to. _

Sanji paused because he couldn't come up with why the other boy took the blame for him. The blonde doubted it was out of kindness since Zoro didn't have much of that and since they weren't friends or anything; there was absolutely no reason behind the green haired boy's actions.

Sanji concluded that it was probably an instinct. _Yeah, instinct,_ he convinced himself. He unhurriedly closed his journal when a huge stack of paper napkins were placed on the desk right next to his.

Instantaneously, the blonde realized that the green haired boy went to the bathroom and the janitor's closet to get a bucket full of water, a single mop, and bunch of napkins to clean the chalk dusts that were spread out everywhere. Sanji felt awfully slow for realizing it this late.

"Writing about me curly?" Zoro asked out of the blue as he started wetting the napkins. The blonde's heart raced as his eyes widened in surprise, _how did he know? _When the green haired boy noticed Sanji's expression, his lips curved into an amiable smile, "I was joking Sanji." He told the blonde calmly.

Sanji's eyes widened from the name calling, well non name calling. Zoro never called him by his actual name before, this was certainly a first.

The green haired boy's expression began to immediately flush once more. "Bastard stop standing there looking like an idiot, help me clean Usopp's mess or that old witch will come back and beat the shit out of me again." He continued to blabber, "That retard, causing a mess then running away. I saw him sprinting him in the hallway, it was so noticeable. Now I'm stuck doing this-"

Sanji smirked at the other boy's panicky chatter. "Yea yea marimo, I'll help." He agreed as he picked up some of the soaked napkins. "Hey thanks for taking the blame earlier," the blonde expressed his gratitude as he started cleansing the chalk filled board.

"Whatever," He responded. Even if the reply sounded icy and cold, Sanji could tell that the other boy was satisfied by the comment since the corner of his mouth was arched into a grin.

The blonde's arms began to outreach on every part of the board in order to not leave a single spot unscathed. Copying Sanji, the green haired boy took the other end of the chalk board then commenced in cleaning.

Sanji wiped most of his side. The only spot that could not be touched was the top corner part which he continuously tried to reach. He used his tippy toes, jumped as high as possible, and angrily threw the napkins upwards. "Dammit," he cursed when none worked.

"Stay still," the green haired boy whispered into his ears as he pressed his chest against Sanji's back. And immediately, the blonde stopped struggling as Zoro easily outstretched his arm to wipe that speck of chalk off. For that instant, Sanji felt the other boy's heartbeat as well as his quick breathes.

"Marimo, you know, you're not half bad," the blonde found himself saying after Zoro had parted from him.

Zoro cleared his throat before responding to the blonde's confession, "I thought you already knew that curly." He sarcastically remarked as he started wetting the mop in order to clean the marble floor beneath their feet.

"Oi oi, don't turn my compliment into one of your arrogant self boosts, bastard." Sanji playfully reacted as he flickered some of chalk remains towards the other boy. "Hah, take that."

The chalk dust flew past in front of the blonde and attached itself on Zoro's shirt, "Bastard I can't believe you did that, this was my favorite shirt," The other boy growled in response as he hastily wiped the dust off.

The blonde's eyes grew wider as he clasped his mouth, "Sorry man, didn't know." He apologized without delay.

Unpredictably, Zoro's frown turned upside down as a smirk began to grow in replacement. "I don't fucking care about my shirt blondie, god I'm not a prude like you," he snorted as he started to swipe the floor with the wet mop.

"Yeah, you're the barbarian in this relationship," Sanji inaudibly grumbled. By saying relationship, he meant a rivalry bond but it came out wrong so he pretended to occupy himself with cleaning once more.

Luckily Zoro was too dense to realize anything except for the insult. For that barbarian comment, the other boy began to collect chalk particles in his hand then threw it towards the blonde.

"Hey! This is a black overcoat, it can stain you bastard!" Sanji shouted causing Zoro to snicker in response. The blonde reddened because that prude remark was partially, completely, true. To prove the green haired boy wrong, Sanji scooped a handful of chalk dusts and threw it.

This time, it flew over to Zoro's face instead of his shirt causing the blonde to grimace a bit, but mostly satisfaction swelled.

The green haired boy coughed few times before having vengeance on Sanji by covering his already pale face in white substance as well.

And soon, both of them were having a war, causing the room to be a mess yet again.

Sanji didn't know how it happened but they soon discarded the chalk powder to brawl with physical contact instead. Zoro guarded most of the times since the blonde did not give the other boy a single chance to take offence.

Clandestinely, Sanji wanted to change Zoro's mind by attacking ferociously, he wanted to prove that he wasn't this weak opponent.

And when the blonde knocked the green haired boy off his feet, he finally realized that he was being weak by taking that comment so seriously.

Because, a strong person would know that they're strong. They wouldn't need to prove themselves to others; yet, Sanji was acting as this weak character that has to convince another for his own self awareness.

The blonde exhaled a heavy sigh as he helped the other boy up, "Sorry for attacking so viciously, I kind of wanted to prove your earlier comment wrong." He told Zoro honestly since he really didn't feel like lying through his teeth.

The other boy's eyes expanded as he grinned, "That comment about you being weak? Curly, that was out of anger, anyone who can knock me off my feet are admitted to be strong in my dictionary." The green haired boy replied honestly as well, creating a further blush to set upon his cheekbones.

Sanji's own face lightened at the declaration made by Zoro, it was endearing to have his rival acknowledge the blonde's strengths and techniques even if it meant complimenting himself through it. "You ass, tricking me like that but thanks," he couldn't help it because it flattered him so much.

The blonde waved his hands in front of him as he grinned widely, reminding himself of his tiny friend, Chopper.

But Sanji's satisfaction dissolved when he noticed a strange expression passing across the green haired boy's face. Just for that moment, he did not appear to be the Zoro he knew. His eyes seemed filled with yearning and desire as his mouth twitched open.

And he seemed to be leaning forward, nearing the blonde with each passing second. For some unknown reason, Sanji froze in place, not knowing what was happening and what he should do next.

When their breathing spaces narrowed and the mop made a thud sound by clashing against the floor, the blonde was suddenly hit with a thought. _He's going to kiss me!_ That was preposterous! This was his green headed rival! His classmate! A boy!

But all those swirling thoughts halted when their lips met with such tender motion led by the other boy that the blonde couldn't help but to gasp lightly.

Sanji had no idea what was happening, his lips remained motionless as the green haired boy continued to dance around using his supple lips. But that only lasted for a second because the blonde pushed Zoro away with such force that it caused the two of them to stumble.

His fingers enclosed on his mouth as he stared at the other boy in shock, still unable to think clearly. "W-Wha-"He stuttered.

But Zoro refused to make eye contact as he stared intensely at the marble floor, as if he could shoot lasers and burn a hole through the ground by that action.

The room remained silent and the only thing the blonde wanted to do was bolt and that was exactly what he did.

**AN: **Tada~ A middle school/innocent love shot~

This is definitely not going to be a long AU like 'what are the chances' but it isn't a one shot either. Unless you readers want me to end it like this, kind of a tragedy tastes towards the end?

Nah everyone, I'm quite fond of happy endings (most of the times) because it makes me depressed when I read a poignant ending from someone else.

Also, this probably won't be updated very soon since I'm trying to concentrate fully on my other story but I'll see what I can do.

Please be kind enough to review upon my story *bow* ^^! Thank you~


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